Take a stroll through the garden with me as I share insights, tips and “I wish I had known better” thoughts. As a designer, container gardener and plantaholic I have learned by simply getting my hands dirty that thumbs really can go from brown to green. Join me on a fun adventure.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

As soon as I met Christina Salwitz I knew I had met a kindred spirit. A self-confessed leaf-a-holic, the only thing we didn’t have in common was that I couldn’t restrain myself to just buying foliage plants; I wanted flowers as well!

echoes the color of the golden full moon maple (Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum'). Peeking

through the bold leaves of an oak leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), the blue

flowers of a hardy geranium add a splash of color.

My design.

I had the opportunity to hear Christina recently at the Outdoor Living Extravaganza in Seattle, hosted by Proven Winners. She may be barely 5’ tall but her presence and energy filled the room while her presentation was pure eye candy with one mouth watering combination after another. Christina’s philosophy is to begin with a backbone of permanent plants using the ratio deciduous : evergreen at 2:1. Using this framework to establish a color palette such as gold, burgundy and silver, she then slips in any stunning foliage plants that leap into her hands (and there are many).

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'Rustic orange' coleus was the inspirationfor this combo with black and chartreuseaccents.My design

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Colorful coleus, hostas and sedums are a few of her many favorites, carefully selecting shades to create moods from cool, icy tones to fiery reds and oranges.

Her enthusiasm had me going back into my own photo library to re-discover some of my foliage combinations to share with you.

My basic principles are to repeat each color at least once within the combination and to vary the size and texture of the leaves. So if an orange leaf has a chartreuse margin for example I will partner this with something else which is chartreuse, whether a leaf, stem or a bud.

Shade gardening lends itself especially well to foliage focused designs. In my last house I developed a small woodland garden by weaving a path of hazelnut shells through a group of ash trees and densely planting the understory with a tapestry of perennials and shrubs which thrived in the dappled light. Underplanting this layer with ephemeral spring bulbs such as English bluebells (Scilla non-scripta) and simple crocus added an extra dimension to the planting.

With so many colorful and variegated forms of hostas it is easy to assemble a group using color echoes like the one shown here. The bold hosta leaves contrast nicely with smaller leaved spurge (Euphorbia 'Orange grove'), grasses and Bishop's hat (Epimedium).

Golden tones are repeated in grasses,hostas and the creeping dead nettle
(Lamium maculatum 'Aureum') which acts as a groundcover.My design

Christina made an interesting observation when she commented that she "had never found a color which didn't look good in a teal pot". I have to admit she has a point and as I realized that although I hadn't planted in that color container I had used it as an accent to bring out the blue-green shades within nearby plants.

This teal ceramic globe draws attention to a simple 'Green spice' heuchera and its color partner; a vase shaped 'Krossa regal' hosta. A fountain of yellow Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola') echoes a golden form of creeping germander (Teucrium polium) as a contrast to the cool blue tones.

1 comment:

Karen, You are too kind. We ARE two peas in a pod though aren't we? SO similar in taste, thought I DO appreciate flowers too. I just LUST for foliage more. :-) Thank you for very kindly and generously adding me into your fun blog. What a nice treat to wake up to this AM! Ya know, we could take on the world together and be quite the force of nature. Have a great Spring- let's get not let it go by without getting together soon!